The campaign for the Delhi Assembly elections that drew to a close on Monday saw the Bharatiya Janata Party find crucial support from its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Having played a key role in the BJP's victories in the recent Haryana and Maharashtra elections, and fueling its revival after an unimpressive Lok Sabha outing, the RSS put together a concerted grassroots campaign for the party in its own fashion in Delhi.
While the BJP has been out of power in Delhi for close to three decades now, its constant face-offs with the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, a political outfit born out of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement and in power in Delhi for the last decade, has made Delhi polls a prestige battle for the saffron party.
The RSS, a social organisation that has usually maintained an arm's-length distance from active politics, has often campaigned for the BJP in favour of the BJP, especially in the hinterlands and taking its core message of Hindutva and nationalism to the masses.
In Delhi, the RSS embarked on its campaign much before the elections were even announced. the organization's work in Delhi is divided among eight vibhags (zones), catering to 30 districts and 173 nagars (small unit).
Ahead of the announcement of the polls, each zone was asked to hold "drawing room meetings" in small groups in localities, offices, institutions, shopping centres, schools, colleges and other areas.
A target of holding at least 60,000 meetings was set with RSS pracharaks (volunteers) working in frontal organisations but headquartered in Delhi asked to remain active in the capital.
According to The Indian Express, a report from its eight vibhags on Monday revealed that nearly 50,000 drawing room meetings had been been organised to “educate voters” ahead of the Delhi elections.
“Our work was focused on educating voters to go to the booth and vote in national interest. But yes, we were asking to vote for BJP, as they are working in national interest,” a senior RSS functionary from western Delhi told IE.
Additionally, regular meetings were held at every level (vibhag, district, and nagar) to take feedback on the drawing room meetings. The last such meeting was held on Monday at every vibhag, following which each vibhag pracharak was asked to share data to the state unit.
The report quoted one of the vibhag functionaries as saying that as many as 2,000 drawing room meetings were held by Sangh swayamsevaks and nearly 4,550 by workers of other anushangik (frontal) organisations like Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Sewa Bharti, Vishva Hindu Parishad, Akhil Bhartiya Shaikshik Mahasangh, Hindu Jagran Manch.
These drawing room meetings cumulatively saw around 53,000 participants which included a large number of women. On an average, over 4 lakh people attended the 50,000-odd drawing room meetings, the report cited RSS sources as saying.
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